Low English skills at school start linked to behavioural difficulties

Children who enter reception with poor English language skills - whether it's their first language or an additional language - are more likely to have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in later years, finds a new study co-authored by UCL and Royal Holloway and funded by Wellcome. The research, published today in Child Development , found the cognitive advantages of bilingualism tend to help with academic achievement only if English skills are sufficient at school entry for the child to be fully engaged. The authors compared children speaking English as a second language with monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency. Academic achievement was similar in reception, while those speaking English as an additional language displayed fewer emotional, social and behavioural difficulties, and were more likely to meet academic targets by Year 2. But the researchers caution that many children speaking English as an additional language still fell short of class averages in Year 2, particularly those with weaker English skills at reception. 'We anticipated that kids who had poor English skills at the start due to a lack of exposure at home would be doing well by Year 2, but actually, their poor outcomes persisted. They didn't just grow out of it with more time in the English school system,' said Professor Courtenay Norbury (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences), the senior author of the paper.